THE government,
grappling with widespread starvation caused by a massive grain deficit, is
rejecting international relief aid despite indications of a looming
humanitarian crisis.

Sources said the government, which has long
accused aid agencies of meddling in Zimbabwe's internal politics, has opted
for another crop assessment before it can accept food aid or hop across the
globe with a begging bowl. Apparently, the reluctance to call in
aid and shore up depleted grain stocks, which by the end of March stood at a
precarious 60 000 tonnes, hinges on the belief that farmers are holding on
to large quantities of the staple grain. But as Harare dithers on
the course of action to take, maize meal is now among the basic commodities
that have disappeared from most supermarket shelves in the capital and other
parts of the country. Nicholas Goche, the Minister of Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare, confirmed the government is yet to engage donors
despite belatedly acknowledging the country faced a serious food deficit
owing to successive droughts and the chaotic land reform. The
former state security minister said the government, whose relief efforts
have been hamstrung by crippling foreign currency shortages, blamed on poor
exports and the dearth of balance of payments support, would in the meantime
commit its meagre resources towards grain imports. He said: "We have
not engaged the aid agencies because we are currently assessing the food
situation. We are also looking at what our local farmers have produced and
also use our own resources to import grain, but the process (assessment) has
not been completed. Should we realise a deficit then we will consider
talking to donors". Experts estimate only 500 000 metric tonnes of
grain would be realised from the current harvest, a far cry from the 1.8
million metric tonnes needed to feed Zimbabwe's 12 million people and the
2.4 million tonnes projected by government. At least US$420 million
($2.6 trillion at the auction rate) is needed to feed the nation until March
2006 when the country expects the next harvest. With no more than
500 000 tonnes delivered to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and international food agencies say the
country urgently needs to import 1.3 million metric tonnes. This
comes as it also emerged that the scarcity of grain in regional source
markets - Zambia and Mozambique - coupled with crippling foreign currency
shortages, were hampering efforts by the government to mobilise
grain. As of yesterday the official sources said the state-run GMB,
the country's sole trader in grain, had received 150 000 metric tonnes of
grain from South Africa, the country's major and reliable supplier of
white maize. Government sources said Harare would be forced to
swallow its pride and belatedly approach international donors as
neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique, which have in the past nine months been
supplying maize to Zimbabwe, were also reeling from the drought. As
Goche spoke, officials from international donors in Johannesburg, South
Africa, said the European Union (EU), a fiery critic of the government, and
other donor partners were cobbling up contingency plans to dole out food
relief to starving Zimbabweans in the event the government comes calling in
the eleventh hour. "We are closely watching the situation," said an EU
official in Harare, speaking on condition of anonymity. "A contingency
effort is underway in South Africa involving the EU and other partners to
determine the amounts that might be needed. The government has not put out
an international appeal but humanitarian organisations say they cannot just
sit by and watch when pointers are that there is a serious food crisis," he
said. UNICEF, a UN agency, warned this week that an estimated 5.5
million people might face starvation should the government maintain its
hardline stance on international food aid agencies. However, the
government is adamant only 1.5 million people, mostly from the seven
provinces of Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Masvingo and Manicaland, were in
urgent need of aid. UN food agencies cut back operations in 2004 after
President Mugabe said the country had more than enough food, famously
telling donor agencies not to "foist food on us." President Mugabe,
whose government stands accused of using food as a political weapon in the
just-ended parliamentary elections, has only allowed the UN World Food
Programme (WFP) to continue with targeted feeding programmes reaching less
than a million people, mainly AIDS orphans.

MYSTERY continues to
shroud circumstances surrounding the death of former minister and ZANU PF
politician Enos Chikowore, as both the government and family members
maintain a tight lid on the autopsy report.

ZANU PF sources
indicated that Chikowore, who died at his Harare home three weeks ago and
was declared a national hero, had no known life-threatening ailment but had
left the party's headquarters on the fateful day "a different and somewhat
unsettled man". State media reports said Chikowore died at his
Umwinsidale, Harare, home while watching the televised swearing-in ceremony
of members of the sixth parliament. Although he had resigned as
minister of transport and energy over the fuel crisis in 2000, Chikowore was
reported to have hoped to bounce back into government, with sources pointing
to his impassioned presentation at the December 2004 ZANU PF congress as a
discreet signal to remind the party that he was still around.
Speaking after Chikowore's death, President Robert Mugabe, To Page
31 From Page 1 who was reported to be keen to know the cause
of the former minister's death, said he had died a bitter man "because ZANU
PF had lost the Kadoma Central seat to the MDC." Family members
also spoke of Chikowore's irregular conduct just before his death.
Almost a month after his demise, both police and family members have refused
to shed light on Chikowore's death, fuelling speculation that the veteran
politician could have committed suicide. Police spokesperson Wayne
Bvudzijena could not be drawn into the revealing the results of the
Chikowore autopsy, only saying an inquest would be held "if there is
suspicion of foul play". "We are still compiling the evidence and there
will be an inquest if there is any suspicion of foul play," Bvudzijena
said. "I cannot tell you the results of the autopsy," Bvudzijena
said. Bright Matonga, a family member who is also Deputy Minister of
Information and Publicity, also declined to disclose the doctors' conclusion
on the circumstances surrounding the death. "We cannot tell you
anything on his (Chikowore)'s death, that issue is now behind us," Matonga
said. Ruling party insiders told The Financial Gazette the late former
minister had, earlier in the day, attended a meeting at the ZANU PF
headquarters before he left, clutching his framed portrait. "He
left this place around 12 noon carrying his framed portrait. We tried to
help him carry the photo but he refused. His behaviour, as a senior member
of the Politburo whom we had worked with for so many years, was surprising
but nobody seemed to notice since people were busy mingling and mixing with
the new MPs," said a source. "We did not realise that we were seeing him for
the last time."

ZIMBABWEAN
church leaders are renewing efforts to bring back the ruling ZANU PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to the negotiating table,
amid a deepening political and economic crisis in the country.

The church leaders, who have in the past made abortive efforts at mediation,
have signalled their desire to revive talks between the country's two
biggest political parties to break a five-year long political impasse that
has coincided with economic decline. Church leaders who spoke to The
Financial Gazette yesterday said the clergymen, who unsuccessfully attempted
to get President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC to
reach a negotiated settlement, were making moves to resuscitate the stalled
process. Talks between the rival political parties collapsed in May
2002 after Tsvangirai dragged President Mugabe to court after a hotly
disputed presidential election result. President Mugabe, who hinted
at retiring at the expiry of his term of office in 2008, had insisted he
would not talk to the MDC unless it acknowledged he was the legitimate head
of state. Reverend Sebastian Bakare, a clergyman with the Anglican
Church in Mutare, who is also part of the group of local church leaders that
has been in the forefront of attempts to break the ice between ZANU PF and
the MDC, confirmed plans were afoot to ask the two parties to return to the
negotiating table. "There are efforts to initiate dialogue between
the two parties. What is happening is that we are trying to make an
appointment to see (Nathan) Shamuyarira. We want to say to him, what now?
Where do we begin?" said Bakare. Analysts said the clergymen might
find it difficult to convince ZANU PF to re-engage the MDC now that the
ruling party has secured a two-thirds majority in parliament, which allows
it to tinker with the constitution. ZANU PF, which has ruled Zimbabwe
since independence in 1980, is looking at creating a senate in the House and
abolishing dual elections. The two parties are also at sea in terms of
their ideologies and may not commit themselves to binding
negotiations. South African leader Thabo Mbeki, who has been dumped by
the MDC as the emissary to Zimbabwe's cri- To Page 31 sis,
had also tried to bring the feuding parties to the negotiating table, but
his "quiet diplomacy", fell flat on its face. "The nature of the talks
could be different because we have a different situation. We suspended
attempts to have both parties talk because of the elections. Now that
elections are over and the dust could be settling, we feel its is prudent
for the church to resuscitate the process," he added. "I can't tell
you now what we want to discuss because it is premature to do as we are to
talk to the parties concerned." Bakare said churches had high hopes
that this time around they would succeed in getting the two parties to the
negotiating table. Talks between the two parties have failed since
mid-2002, mainly because of intransigent positions taken by the two sides
when it came to making compromises.

ZANU PF leaders in
Mashonaland East have refused to hand Small and Medium Enterprises
Development minister Sithembiso Nyoni a respite by insisting on a candidate
from the province.

Nyoni, who received a drubbing at the hands of
the MDC's David Coltart in the Bulawayo South constituency in the March 31
election, was appointed to President Robert Mugabe's cabinet and, according
to the constitution, has to become a member of parliament within three
months of her appointment or lose her ministerial post. The Mudzi
East constituency, in which the ZANU PF Mashonaland East chairman and newly
appointed governor Ray Kaukonde triumphed, is, as a result of his
appointment, available, and a by-election will soon be called. It has
been suggested that Nyoni could be parachuted to the constituency, but the
ruling party's leadership in the province is agitating against her
imposition as a candidate in the by-election. The ZANU PF provincial
executive says it has already come up with its own candidate, Christopher
Musa, to run on the party's ticket in the by-election. Kaukonde
told The Financial Gazette that ruling party supporters in the constituency
had already come up with a candidate, who is going to be presented to the
party's Politburo for approval. "The candidate will come from this
province, there is not going to be any imposition," he said.
Imposition of candidates has of late been met with stiff resistance from the
ruling party's supporters. Constitutional lawyer Love-more Madhuku said
Nyoni could either get into parliament through a by-election or President
Mugabe can ask one of the appointed MPs to resign to pave way for her
admission to Parliament. "But this route is closed since all the appointed
MPs have cabinet posts."

BULAWAYO-Heads are
likely to roll at the Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers), especially at the
Bulawayo daily, The Chronicle, sources that attended a meeting between the
recently appointed deputy Minister of Information and Publicity Bright
Matonga and Zim-papers staff have said.

Matonga, met journalists
from The Chronicle and the Sunday News as well as those from Montrose
Studios where Spot FM, National Television and the Bulawayo staff of Newsnet
operate from on Thursday. Though the local media quoted Matonga as
saying there would not be any "purge" of journalists at the state-owned
media, most of whom are perceived as former Information Minister Jonathan
Moyo's "cronies", sources say Matonga had in fact lambasted the journalists
at The Chronicle for lack of direction and poor language. Matonga
is reported to have taken The Chronicle staff to task over their front-page
stories on Tuesday, April 26 and Thursday, April 28, the day he addressed
them. The Chronicle led with a story entitled: "Food shortages hit
communities" on Tuesday and one entitled: "US$2 billion needed to avert
power crisis" on Thursday. Matonga is reported to have told the
staff that the stories were in bad taste especially in view of the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair, the country's trade showcase that opened on April
26. He is reported to have told the staff that the drought story, which
said people in Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, the Midlands,
Masvingo and Manicaland were experiencing food shortages and the power
crisis story, were likely to scare away investors. Though the
government had admitted that the country was facing a serious food shortage
and was planning to import 1.2 million tonnes of maize, Matonga is reported
to have told the journalists that the story should have been confined to the
inside pages. He is even reported to have mentioned page 30. The Chronicle
rarely has 30 pages. The deputy minister also lambasted the staff for
the poor language in the power crisis story and queried the staff why they
were talking about a crisis that was still two years away. The
story had reported that there was an "imminent" shortage of electricity and
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority needed to spend over US$2 billion
between now and 2010 to avert a crisis. In its story on Friday, April
29, The Chronicle, however quoted Matonga as having told the staff that
there would be no witch-hunting. "I would like to assure you that you
have no reason to worry as long as you continue to do your job diligently,
serving the nation in the process," Matonga was quoted as saying.
Though Matonga and his boss, former ambassador Tichaona Jokonya, have tried
to pacify the media over wholesale changes, observers say it is too early
for them to start making any changes since they have been in office for less
than a month. The observers say changes are inevitable because Jonathan
Moyo had purged the state media, both electronic and print, of most
experienced journalists.

ZIMBABWE
might have to downgrade its ambitious growth domestic product (GDP)
forecast, industry experts and economists say, as erratic power and energy
supplies, higher production costs and a poor harvest combine to speed up
economic decline.

Official forecasts have predicted that Zimbabwe
would this year reverse six straight years of negative growth with positive
GDP growth of 3.5 to five percent. The International Monetary Fund last year
also predicted Zimbabwe would record real growth for the year, but its
forecasts are much slimmer at 1.8 percent. However, economists say
the platform upon which Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa built his growth
forecasts now looks decidedly shaky. Murerwa, in his 2005 budget statement
last November, said the economy would grow on a 28 percent rise in
agricultural output, higher mining production and increased industrial
output. "The government forecasts on the economy look unattainable
because industrial and agriculture production are lower than forecasts,
which should see another GDP decline this year," University of Zimbabwe
business professor Tony Hawkins told Reuters recently. "I believe the
government is already revising its GDP and inflation forecasts, but of
course they will not admit it." A big part of the problem is
rocketing debt. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe says the government domestic
debt jumped to $7.9 trillion on April 15 from $2.3 trillion as of February
18. In mid-January 2004, domestic debt stood at just $576 billion.
Analysts say the trend is being driven by government borrowing to plug gaps
in its budget and fund state enterprises, as revenues subside on plunging
company and individual taxes - the result of waning industrial
production. But the analysts warned that while this would keep some
exporters afloat, a devaluation would also make imports more expensive,
fanning inflation and pushing black market rates up. "It
(devaluation) is a very tight judgment call . . . the one obvious point is
that you need a foreign big brother standing behind you and we don't
[article ends here...]

HARARE, the erstwhile sunshine city has been
plunged into an unprecedented crisis - probably the worst in living
memory.

The municipality's service delivery is to all intents and
purposes teetering on the verge of collapse. The deteriorating
situation, which comes at a time when town and city residents have been
hoping against hope for a new generation of public services, is not confined
to Harare alone as it is also evident in other municipalities. But it is
worse in the capital city where, to say the city has been reduced to a
ticking time bomb health-wise, would be an understatement of significant
proportions. The situation is becoming extremely dangerous. The hapless
silent majority in the city, who must be wondering how long they should
embrace mediocrity and how long they should put up with failure are, without
being alarmist, sitting on a powder keg. Several suburbs have gone for
weeks on end without water, against a background of mountains of uncollected
refuse, raw sewage flowing in some of the godforsaken high-density suburbs,
collapsing infrastructure, poor roads and lighting among others. The issue
of the acute shortage of water is particularly critical. And nowhere is this
better mirrored than in the disillusionment of the residents of Mabvuku,
Tafara, Masasa Park and Greendale. The universal pandemic of despair is so
tangible that it can literally be cut with a knife. And rightly so. What
with several schools having been closed down when the salvation of this
great nation is very much dependent on the scholastic development of its
biggest asset - the children. Not to mention the threat of
diseases. The depressing situation in the capital city, put against the
documented incompetence, mismanagement and inefficiency of those running the
affairs of the city, makes prospects of a quick turnaround rather grim. This
is moreso when one considers that the situation in Harare got worse under
the stewardship of the political chameleon known as Sekesai Makwavarara who
has been mayor since 2003. Makwavarara should know that as far as
the woes besetting Harare are concerned, the buck stops in her office. She
should therefore take full responsibility for the untenable situation
obtaining in the city. Admittedly, it goes without saying that the biting
problems in Zimbabwe's major cities and towns should be partly blamed on
breathtaking malfeasance, cronyism as well as ruinous extensive political
interference by cabinet ministers who seem to have no other ideas above
scheming for political survival. The ministers who have repeatedly blocked
the implementation of cost-recovery tariffs have been known for costly
populist decisions and their obsession with planting ruling party charlatans
in positions of influence irrespective of whether they are suitable or
not. And with all due respect, Makwavarara, herself a beneficiary of
what is widely seen as a bonfire of political madness when popularly elected
mayor Elias Mudzuri was hounded out of office, should not escape censure,
having been mayor for this long. She has bungled and the residents have paid
the price. It is our considered view that, as the situation stands, she is
the least suitable person to spearhead the turnaround of the collapsing
city. If anything she cuts the picture of someone who cannot
organise a booze-up in a brewery, if the accelerated collapse of service
delivery under her mayorship is anything to go by. In terms of incompetence
she takes the biscuit - hence the disastrous conditions Harare is well and
truly stuck in. Makwavarara and company should therefore be given their
marching orders without any hesitation. Removing them would be a quantum
leap towards the much-hoped for turnaround of the city's operations. It is
true that an old broom knows all the corners. However the broom at Town
House has not only lost most of its bristles but is also stymied by the mess
in the city apart from not being free of a rigid political leash and
partisan obligations. This is why the eleventh hour news that the city
of Harare will unbundle its current structures into autonomous strategic
business units does not inspire confidence at all especially if it is to be
done under Makwavarara's direction. For Makwavarara, getting the mayor's job
was like Pius Ncube marrying Dolly Parton. This is too big a job for her.
And frankly speaking very few, if any, of Harare's long-suffering residents
have any high hopes for a turnaround under Makwavarara. Of course,
Local Government Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo, whose unwarranted interference
in the city's affairs has touched off political intrigue, and newly
appointed resident minister for the Harare Metropolitan province David
Karimanzira, would have us believe otherwise. That is hardly surprising. But
all we can say is that blessed are the believers. The unpalatable truth
is that scores of the city's residents are hard-pressed to believe the
so-called strategic business units would be the magic wand given the ruling
party's obsession with exerting its influence on the city and government's
reluctance to let go of its vice-like grip on public institutions as
typified by corporatisation - a Chinese half-way house between rigid state
control and privatisation - implemented in several still-bleeding
parastatals. The residents' misgivings are not without foundation. The
same route has led to a cul-de-sac at the very partisan debt-trapped
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, which has since relapsed into the depths of
political partisanship, mismanagement and inefficiency. The deterioration at
the public broadcaster has been such that watching ZTV is as boring as
watching the grass grow, resulting in a deep alienation from the public. As
a result, down went its credibility and respectability or the little that
was left of it and inevitably its profitability. The same fate awaits the
Harare City Council unless the likes of Makwavarara, who in our view have
been part of the problem, are allowed to fall by the wayside and let the
chips fall where they may!

Little Nothings Whenever
everything seems to be looking gloomy in Zimbabwe, one thing seems certain.
The new media handlers don't seem to have any problems whatsoever behaving
like civilised Africans. Hopefully this is just not a nine day's
wonder!

CZ is not a voyeur . . . and doesn't want to be one.
Not even for a single day. But people always come to tell him juicy stories
about happenings in the country and who is he not to peddle the stories
on? What is this we are being told about this old man, very notorious
when dealing with the so-called independent media? We are told only last
week he was booted out of this rented place in Eastlea. Yes, he was thrown
out - but not without some resistance - and we are told this is the second
time annoyed landlords have decided to punish him for his mischief by
throwing him out of their properties! With the way he defends the
regime, you wouldn't believe that at his age he has no house of his
own! He still goes about squatting from place to place! And
also about this whole editor man who one day got home to find nothing, not
even curtains, as the wife who could no longer stand his celebrated role as
a womaniser, decided to desert him! Please don't quote CZ. Find out for
yourselves! After the events at the recently-ended HIFA, CZ would like
to welcome musician Zexie Manatsa back home. It is not easy to live your
neighbour's life. And what's this about this randy minister's wife
suing one of his too many girlfriends? CZ's words to her is that she hasn't
started as yet! Wisdom With everything that should never ever
go wrong threatening to go wrong in this beautiful country, CZ this week
thought he should share with Zimbos some few words of encouragement - words
found in the old St Paul's Church, Baltimore, in 1692: "Go placidly
amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull
and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexation to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you
may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser
persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep
interested in your own career, however humble, it is a real possession in
the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue
there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full
of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be
cynical about love; for in the face of all the aridity and disenchantment it
is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years;
gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to
shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with
imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a
wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the
universe, no less than the trees and stars; you have a right to be here. And
whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is folding as it
should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to
be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of
life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken
dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be
happy!" This one is from one of CZ's many fans: A young man
was at the end of his rope, seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in
prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said. "I have too heavy a cross to
bear." The Lord replied: "My son, if you can't bear its weight, just
place your cross inside this room. Then, open that other door and pick out
any cross you wish." The man was relieved and said: "Thank you Lord." And he
did as he had been told. Upon entering the other room, he saw many crosses;
some so large their ends were too far to be seen. Then, he spotted a tiny
cross leaning against the far end of the wall. "I'd like that one, Lord" he
whispered. The Lord replied, "But my son, that is the cross you just
abandoned." When life's problems seem overwhelming, it helps to
look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider
yourself far more fortunate than you imagined. Whatever your burden,
whatever your pain, there will always be sunshine after the rain. Perhaps
you may stumble, perhaps fall, but God's always there to help you through it
all!

News flash! In the midst of all these "challenges"
that Zimbos are going through, there is just one thing that CZ would want to
salute them for. No matter how hopeless the situation may look, they
never lose their greatest asset . . . their sense of humour. This is what
one Zimbo sent to CZ this week: "Due to the acquisition of fleets of buses
and planes from an East Asian country, we have had to change the names of
two of our corporate bodies to Zhupco and Air Zhimbabwe with immediate
effect!" This is CZ's Notebook. Take care.

SECTOR-wide
retren-chments are looming in the milling industry in the wake of grain
shortages, The Financial Gazette learnt this week.

Industry sources
said most small-scale milling companies have laid off contract workers after
going for weeks without grain supplies from the state-run Grain Marketing
Board (GMB), raising fears that the lay-offs could spread to large companies
as well. Millers Association chairman Mike Manga rejected the claims of
retrenchments this week saying "no major millers" had cut jobs.
"Please be advised that none of the major millers has retrenched or has
contemplated retrenching any employees," he said. "What we have is a
transient situation arising from erratic supply of maize from the GMB. Some
maize mills have temporarily closed due to unavailability of maize.
Employees have either been to reassigned other duties or have been requested
to stay at home for now." The country needs at least 1.8 million
tonnes of grain annually to meet domestic needs, at an average of 150 000
tonnes per month. Zimbabwe is estimated to have a grain deficit of 1.2
million tonnes and 200 000 tonnes of wheat and beans. Last month
Pretoria shipped in 150 000 tonnes of white maize and an unspecified amount
is reportedly in transit.

ZIMBABWE
Platinum Mines (Zimplats) is proceeding with talks with
Nkululeko-Rusunu-nguko Mining Company (NRMC) for the sale of a 15 percent
stake in the white metal business, three months after the empowerment outfit
missed a deadline to back its winning bid with the US$31 million needed for
the stock.

Under the empowerment deal, Zimplats, the country's
number one platinum producer, would sell 13.4 million of its shares to
NRMC. However, the empowerment group is yet to raise the required cash,
raising the possibility that Zimplats shareholders could place a new
deadline at their next meeting. "Due to the delay in securing
funding, the transaction was not finalised by the 7 February deadline set by
shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting held on 5 November 2004,"
Zimplats said in its quarterly report to March. Priscilla
Mupfumira, head of NRMC, was unavailable for comment this week. However, in
earlier remarks, she told the media that "we will tell you if we fail to
raise the money". NRMC has approached a string of potential financiers,
including Stanbic Africa, Amalgamated Bank of South Africa and lately South
Africa's Industrial Development Group. NRMC was the government's
surprise preferred bidder for the Zimplats stake, after Needgate Investments
had looked close to sealing a deal. The National Investment Trust, the
government's own investment vehicle, raised the cash at the last minute but
also lost the bid. Zimplats has also announced that it was close to
reaching an "acceptable" agreement with Zimbabwean authorities over a ban on
offshore currency accounts, which producers say would increase costs and
hurt investment. Zimplats said in its report for the March quarter
that the central bank had agreed to consider a more feasible policy. The
company did not, however, reveal more detail. "It is pleasing to
report that an acceptable and workable regime is now being pursued but is
yet to be finalised from an administrative point of view," Zimplats said in
the update. The government in February issued new regulations
abolishing the rights of platinum miners to hold foreign currency
accounts. Zimplats' statement refers to talks with the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe, and there is no indication whether the company has also separately
approached the government on the matter. Miners had been originally
instructed to close their offshore accounts and deposit the money into local
foreign currency accounts by February 28, according to the new
rules. However, the deadline was informally pushed back after
representations made by the miners. Platinum producers say the
proposed new regime will have a negative impact on the cost and risk of
doing business in Zimbabwe. Ore mined at Zimplats in the last quarter
came in 13 percent above budget, while the high operating costs of the
previous quarter were restrained. Sales stood at 41 622 ounces, up
from 40 497 in the December quarter, but still down on the 43 687 ounces in
the three months to September. But Zimplats cautioned that high
inflation and the fixed exchange rate would continue to lift costs and hurt
profitability.

THE economic down-slide that began in
Zimbabwe nearly a decade ago and at one time became vicious appears to be
steepening with every passing day while our rulers continuously grope for
what appear to be elusive solutions.

In this economic chaos, the
justice delivery system, just like other sectors, has not been spared
trouble and has also been relegated to victimhood. The system continues to
operate under debilitating constraints and with the now so common
"turnaround" buzzword being inapplicable to it. Central to the negative
factors affecting the legal system is the issue of insufficient funding.
This has been so detrimental that the wheels of justice have are now rolling
at a slack pace. Sooner or later, if no drastic remedial steps are taken,
our justice delivery system will drift towards the intensive care
unit. There is no doubt that the dominant national economic problem has
had a ripple effect that has affected almost every facet of our legal
system. The shortage of funds to purchase equipment, especially
computers, stationery and recording machinery, as well as adequately
remunerate staff, has always affected the performance of our courts. Both
criminal and civil matters are taking unreasonably long to finalise because
insufficient staff, both professional and non-professional, man the
courts. In civil courts, fuel shortages are causing delays in the
service of summons on defendants, so much so that summons that used to be
served within a fortnight now take a month or more, depending on the
distance to be covered by the deputy sheriff. Add to this inherent
delays caused by procedural dictates, institutional problems such as staff
deficiencies, low morale and inadequate infrastructure and the problem is
compounded, unnecessarily prolonging litigation. Where civil cases
are finally heard, judicial officers - facing an ever-mounting load of more
court sittings, judgments to prepare and other ancillary work - battle to
timeosly hand down rulings. As a result, if, say, an appellant claimed
Z$5 million in December 2003, and the matter is heard in June 2005, while
judgment is handed down in December of 2005, such a claim might not be
meaningful at the end of the day because of the effects of
inflation. People may be aware that, on numerous occasions, reports
have been published of criminal courts being made to start work late, or
failing to sit at all because of inconveniences caused by fuel shortages.
People may also be aware of the huge backlog of cases that has accumulated
because of insufficient staff members to operate in the courts. At
times in the civil courts, because of inordinate delays and inconveniences
directly or indirectly related to the economic problems, litigation is being
rendered merely academic. Individuals noticing the shortcomings in our legal
system now feel discouraged from enforcing their rights in the
courts. To bypass the mayhem in our civil courts, parties entering into
private treaties are encouraged to include arbitration clauses in such
contracts - because private arbitration is always a smooth and prompt way of
setting disputes. In the criminal courts, notable problems are the
obvious delays in prosecuting individuals, and these delays are invariably
akin to those dogging the civil courts. Such unfortunate delays are gravely
undermining suspects' constitutionally guaranteed right to a trial within a
reasonable time. Only a few individuals with financial resources
have been able to successfully challenge the state, while the majority of
the poor suspects continue to experience the harshness of our criminal
justice system. In the same criminal justice system, suspects who are
convicted or are denied bail because of the gravity of their offences or
other reasons face the torment of our remand prisons. It is high
time a commission of inquiry was launched to investigate the numerous
reports of prisoner abuse, starvation, homosexuality, overcrowding, deaths,
and epidemics of infectious diseases in these institutions. It is
not only unjust but also an extreme cruelty to incarcerate a suspect under
inhuman and degrading conditions when the supreme law of the land outlaws
such treatment. A delay in finalising criminal matters is also
adversely affecting suspects who deposit large amounts of money as bail. If
one was made to pay bail in the amount of $50 in May 2004, such payment will
have lost value by the time it will be refunded by the state because of
effects of inflation. It must be acknowledged that justice is not
justice until you give it away. The Ministry of Justice cannot talk about
justice if it cannot properly ensure the vibrancy and proper operation of
our legal system. Is it also not true that justice delayed is justice
denied or, further, that justice must not only be done, but it must be seen
to be done? Remedial measures need to be adopted urgently - otherwise
our legal system will be a continuous catastrophe.

FRIST
CONDEMNS APPROVAL OF ZIMBABWE AS MEMBER OF UN COMMISSION ON
HUMANRIGHTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist, M.D. (R-TN)today made the following statement following the United
Nation's (UN)reported approval of Zimbabwe as a member of the Commission on
HumanRights:

"Today's selection of Zimbabwe as a member of the
Commission on HumanRights is deeply troubling. The Government of Zimbabwe
has consistentlydisregarded the rights of its people, repressed political
dissent andquashed any and all opposition. Far from earning a role as a
protector ofhuman rights, their membership renders the commission
illegitimate andirrelevant. A real and credible UN Human Rights Commission
would becondemning the current regime and its activities. I deplore
theirselection as a commission member, and hope that this outrageous
appointmentwill help inspire UN members to enact extensive and meaningful
reform ofthe Commission."

Senator Frist has long been an advocate for
democracy in Zimbabwe. In2001, Frist authored the "Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act of2001" to support the people of Zimbabwe in their
struggles to bring aboutpeaceful, democratic change and restore the rule of
law.

Frist has also criticized the selection of other countries, such as
Sudan,to the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). In the last Congress,
Fristpassed a Senate Resolution with the unanimous support of his
colleaguesthat called for Sudan's suspension from the UNHRC while
allegations ofgenocide against the people of Darfur were
investigated.

The day after the
election in Zimbabwe, the Cape Times (of Cape Town)carried a front-page
story on the South African government's new policy to`turn the tide against
poverty' by cutting back on the tax-funded opulenceof ANC politicians.
President Mbeki's private jet would be sold and hewould in future travel by
South African Airways. There would be no moremansions and Mercedes for
ministers and no more full-page advertisements inthe newspapers singing the
praises of the ANC government. This storyappeared on 1 April.

Being
naturally gullible and tired after a long night before, I read it ina
dreamlike state, feeling that I had been transported into a
differentuniverse where the ordinary laws of African politics had broken
down. Inthis strange realm, African leaders put the welfare of the people
ahead oftheir own luxury and vainglory. Then I came to the last line of
thearticle, designed to make dimwits like me check the date, and was
bumpedback to reality.

Part of this reality was the grisly farce of
the Zimbabwean election, theinevitable result and its equally inevitable
endorsement by the SouthAfrican government. President Mugabe of Zimbabwe
must be extremely gratefulto President Mbeki of South Africa, without whose
constant support andencouragement he would probably not have been able to
sustain his tyranny.The ANC shouted and screamed against apartheid South
Africa and Ian Smith'sRhodesia and called for sanctions against both. It
denounces what it seesas crimes of the Israeli government, such as the
building of the wall toshut out Palestine. But against the mass murder,
torture, terror, gang rapeand deliberate starvation of the Zimbabwe people
by Mugabe's dictatorship,neither President Mbeki nor any other leading
figure of the ANC in hisgovernment has whispered one word of protest.
Mbeki's policy of `quietdiplomacy' towards Zimbabwe has usually consisted of
picking up a bigmegaphone and bellowing the virtues of Robert Mugabe. The
ANC's support forMugabe is total.

The most frightening question
hanging over the future of South Africa isthis. Does the ANC support Mugabe
out of political expediency or because itagrees with his actions? If the
latter, will South Africa go the way ofZimbabwe?

Expediency would be
easy to understand. The curse of black Africans, inAfrica and abroad, is
their unrequited obsession with the white man. BlackAfricans try to reduce
all human existence to a simple morality tale inwhich the white man is the
source of all evil and misfortune. They havelittle interest in black people
beyond their borders but enormous interestin white people. If there is an
atrocity in an African country, blackpeople outside that country will not
care unless there are white peopleconcerned, either as instigators or as
victims.

When Mugabe slaughtered 20,000 black people in southern Zimbabwe
in 1983,nobody outside Zimbabwe, including the ANC, paid it the
slightestattention. Nor did they care when, after 2000, he drove thousands
of blackfarm workers out of their livelihoods and committed countless
atrocitiesagainst his black population. But when he killed a dozen white
farmers andpushed others off their farms, it caused tremendous excitement.
Mugabebecame a hero in the eyes of black activists in South Africa, the US
andEngland. That he has ruined Zimbabwe, a beautiful and naturally
blessedcountry; that he has turned it from a food exporter to a hungry
foodimporter; that he has caused 80 per cent unemployment and 600 per
centinflation; that he has killed and tortured tens of thousands of
Africans;that he has crushed democracy; that he has reduced life expectancy
from 55years in 1980 when he came to power to 33 years now ^× none of this
matterscompared with his glorious triumph in beating up a handful of
whitefarmers.

Whenever there is a South African radio phone-in
programme on Zimbabwe,white South Africans and black Zimbabweans denounce
Mugabe, and black SouthAfricans applaud him. Therefore, one theory goes,
Mbeki cannot afford tocriticise Mugabe. This explains Mbeki's constant
support for Mugabe, hisendorsement of the fraudulent presidential election
in 2002, and his recentstatement ^× made after Mugabe had shut down
independent newspapers, riggedthe voters' roll, terrorised opposition
supporters and banned oppositionparty meetings ^× that `I have no reason to
think that anybody in Zimbabwewill militate against elections being free and
fair.'

The most plausible advocate of this theory is Jeremy Cronin of the
SouthAfrican Communist party (SACP). The ANC is in a three-party alliance
withthe SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). In
astrange but hopeful twist, the SACP and Cosatu have denounced Mugabe
anddeclared the 31 March election a sham. I heard Cronin speak at
theUniversity of Cape Town. He is a middle-aged white man with an
endearingdemeanour, rather like one of those earnest schoolboys determined
to begood and often bullied for it. He said that Mbeki had been painted into
acorner by Mugabe. Mugabe's skill at evoking the devils of
whiteimperialism, Tony Blair and the IMF, had outmanoeuvred Mbeki.
Mbekigenuinely wanted democracy in Zimbabwe and had hoped for democratic
reformbefore this election, but unfortunately the cunning Mugabe had tricked
himby declaring the election suddenly before anything could be
done.

I listened to this nice man and thought, `Come off it!' Mugabe's
skill? Itneeds no skill at all to win the applause of black activists around
theworld. Any African president can kill as many black people as he
likesknowing that, if he then condemns white imperialism, he is
guaranteedacclamation. Idi Amin, no Machiavelli, did it in the 1970s. He
murderedabout a quarter of a million Africans but became a great African
hero byexpelling Asians from Uganda and announcing himself as a conqueror of
theBritish empire. For this achievement he was made president of
theOrganisation of African Unity. Mugabe's tactics are almost as crude.
Mbekiwould be an idiot to be surprised by them, and he is
not.

Moreover, the ANC is now almost unassailable in South Africa. It won
70 percent of the vote in the election last year and has no credible rival
forpower. Mbeki could easily stop supporting Mugabe's reign of terror
withoutlosing significant support at home.

So then there is the
sinister possibility that Mbeki genuinely approves ofMugabe's actions, both
the persecution of opponents and the confiscation ofwhite assets. Mugabe and
Mbeki are similar in many ways, and so are theirparties. Both men spend
fortunes on pomp and ceremony. Both attack whiteWestern culture while
adoring it. Both try to dress like English squiresand to sound like Oxford
dons while at the same time ranting against whitecolonialism. Both silence
all critics by calling them racists. (Adifference, which probably does not
have much practical importance, is thatMbeki seems to be a genuine racist
whereas Mugabe's racism is simply adevice for retaining power.) The ANC and
Zanu-PF both believe they are notjust political parties but divinely
ordained `liberation movements',entitled to rule in perpetuity. Both seem
unable to distinguish between thestate and the party, and the opposition and
the enemy.

South Africa's press is free, even if it labours under heavy
self-censorship, but the national television broadcaster, the SABC,
increasinglyresembles Mugabe's state television with much of the `news'
consisting ofthe mighty accomplishments of the ruling party and the great
utterances ofits supreme leader. At present the ANC faces no serious
challenge atelections. If it did face a serious challenge, as Mugabe did in
2000, wouldit act as he did?

Unfortunately, there are many signs that
this is exactly what it would do.The ANC has long experience in using
violence and terror against its blackopponents in the 1980s and 1990s, and
would probably put this to use if toomany blacks began to vote against it.
This might be a reason why the ANC soenthusiastically supports Mugabe,
saying in effect to potential blackdissidents, `Be careful. We can do what
he does.'

Mugabe became heroic by seizing white-owned farms in Zimbabwe
(most ofwhich were bought during his government with its full legal
approval).Since farming is a negligible part of the South African economy,
the ANC,to reproduce Mugabe's heroism, would have to seize other white
assets suchas mines, banks and factories. The farms taken from the whites in
Zimbabwedid not, of course, go in the main to ordinary black people in
Zimbabwe butto a handful of rich cronies in the ruling party. In the ANC's
ideology of`transformation', this is fine. `Transformation' does not mean
reducinginequality or improving the living standards of all. It means
changing therace of ownership and power. It is not about rich and poor; it
is purelyabout black and white. If all South African industry were owned by
a dozenblack billionaires while the majority of black people were living
inpenury, this would count as successful transformation, just as
Zimbabwe,which is now in ruins but has black ownership of the farms, is seen
ashaving had a successful transformation.

In South Africa, the main
instrument of transformation is Black EconomicEmpowerment (BEE). This
requires whites to hand over big chunks of theownership of companies to
blacks and to surrender top jobs to them. Almostall the blacks so enriched
belong to a small elite connected to the ANC.BEE is already happening to
mines, banks and factories. In other words, apeaceful Mugabe-like programme
is already in progress in South Africa. Whatare the chances of its turning
violent?

Before the fall of apartheid in 1990, the ANC was Marxist in
thought andbelieved in the command economy. It abandoned this, thanks in
large part toMbeki, because it felt constrained by the realities of the
global economyafter the fall of communism and the need for foreign
investment. Does itnow really want to follow Mugabe's violent example but
feel constrained bythese same considerations? If circumstances changed, as
they did forMugabe, would the ANC cast aside constraint and unleash the
`comrades' onwhite-owned businesses and properties? Such a move would
provide amarvellous opportunity for mayhem, for the multitudes of unemployed
youngblack men would be ecstatically received by the rich but resentful
blackelite that spends its energy obsessing about whites, and would be
cheeredto the rooftops by the UN, the African Union and `progressive
forces'around the world. Imagine TV pictures of the white executives
ofAnglo-America being manacled and whipped through the streets
ofJohannesburg by grinning black youths. What could be more
delightful?

White South Africans are told that they should `learn the
lessons of thewhite farmers in Zimbabwe'. What lessons? That you should
never trust ablack government (since they bought their farms with the
approval of ablack government)? That you should never invest in Africa or
pour yoursweat into Africa? That you should not try to befriend black people
andimprove their living standards (since those Zimbabwean farmers who did
sowere the first to have their lands confiscated)? When Mugabe took power
in1980, there were about 300,000 whites in Zimbabwe. Now there are
about25,000. Is the lesson for white South Africans that they should
allemigrate?

I do not know the answers. I did not predict the fall of
communism or thefall of apartheid. I am not a good prophet. Zimbabwe is an
imperfectcomparison with South Africa. But looking at all the evidence as
clearly asI can, it seems to me that Zimbabwe is the best comparison we
have; and ifyou want to see the future of South Africa, it might not be a
bad idea tolook at the present in
Zimbabwe.--------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.
From IRIN (UN), 26 April

Food imports will drain govt coffers, say
analysts

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe has turned to Zambia, Uganda and
Tanzania for grainimports as the state Grain Marketing Board (GMB) attempts
to restock thecountry's dwindling maize and wheat stocks. Minister of Public
Service,Labour and Social Welfare Nicholas Goche confirmed to IRIN that
Zimbabwehad expanded its grain sources to include these three countries,
inaddition to South Africa, the major supplier. "We have been looking
formore and more sources of grain. There are contracts that have been
inexistence but not in force - we are reactivating those, and signing up
newones, to ensure that food keeps coming. We received about 150,000 mt
fromSouth Africa over the past month and we are expecting more deliveries
fromEast Africa," Goche told IRIN. Goche, formerly the state security
minister,assumed his new portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle last
week.

The government's admission came as economists said the country
needed toimport at least 1.2 million mt of maize, 200,000 mt of wheat,
andunspecified tonnages of barley and sorghum to meet the country's
immediatefood requirements. Minister Goche said the country was expecting to
feedabout 1.5 million people in seven mostly rural provinces, but could not
saywhether there was a parallel relief programme for urban areas.
Althoughthere were no responses from the embassies of the three source
countries,an official at the GMB procurement division told IRIN that
theZimbabwe-Uganda maize import deal was signed during President
YoweriMuseveni's recent visit to Zimbabwe. Didymus Mutasa, Zimbabwe's
newlyappointed minister of state security, said he could not divulge any
detailsbeyond what Goche had said, as food was a national security issue.
Hisministry, which is responsible for the Central Intelligence
Organisation(CIO), has taken charge of the importation and distribution of
food. "Whydo you want to know where we get our food? I cannot tell you
anything morethan what you already know because these are security issues.
Besides, I amnew in this ministry, so I do not know much," Mutasa
said.

A spokesman for the ruling Zanu PF party, Nathan Shamuyarira, said
thecountry needed at least Zim $5 trillion (about US $818 million) for
theimmediate importation of grains and cereals, and the government
woulddivert money from infrastructure development programmes to import food.
"Wehave been forced to divert resources from other projects to deal with
theimmediate hunger situation. We are in a predicament. Food importation
isour priority at the moment," Shamuyarira told IRIN. Economists Erich
Blochand John Robertson warned that the high cost of importing food would
driveup inflation and lead to a thriving alternative market for
scarcefoodstuffs and foreign currency. "The expanded government and [the
proposednew] Senate will both be a huge drain on the national fiscus, which
doesnot have foreign currency at present. It means spending on the
bureaucracywould compete with food importation for resources, but government
simplydoes not have such money - food importation alone will cost the
countrytremendous sums of foreign currency between now and April next year
whenthe next harvest comes," said Bloch. "The result will be a resilient
blackmarket for scarce foodstuffs in both rural and urban areas; there will
alsobe a more stubborn foreign currency black market to fill up
wheregovernment is failing. The cost will be too high for our ailing
economy."He added that there was no hope that the country's winter
wheat-growingseason, due to begin in late April, would improve the food
securitysituation until the next harvest. Robertson said the diversion of
foreigncurrency into importing food would stall other capital projects,
costingthe country heavily in terms of development; the government needed
todesign long-term policies to counter the overall economic meltdown,
tosolve the problem of food insecurity. "Steps must be taken to deal with
theshortage of foreign currency. The causes of food insecurity can be
tracedback to the collapse of the farming sector - the collapse of the
tobacco,cotton, timber and beef export industries. All attempts at ensuring
foodsecurity without addressing these problems will fail," noted Robertson.
TheGMB noted in a recent report to the National Taskforce on Food
Securitythat rather than government's harvest estimate of 2.4 million mt,
only600,000 mt of grain had been surrendered to its silos after the
2004harvest. The country needs 1.8 million mt of grain annually to
meetdomestic consumption needs. Contrary to government estimates that
1.5million people would need some kind of food assistance, the Famine
EarlyWarning Systems Network (FEWSNET) last month warned that up to 4.5
millionwere in need of immediate food
aid.--------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.
From The Pretoria News, 27 April

Zimbabwe turns to wildlife as food
source

Basildon Peta

President Robert Mugabe's regime has directed
national parks officials tokill animals in state-owned conservation areas to
feed hungry ruralpeasants - a move that could wipe out what remains of
Zimbabwe's impalas,kudus, giraffes, elephants and other species. The
directive is a major blowto efforts by conservationists to try to
rehabilitate the wildlife sectorwhich was devastated after Mugabe ordered
his supporters to invade andconfiscate white-owned farms in 2000. The
chaotic farm invasions saw partymilitants storming into conservation areas -
both private and state-owned -to slaughter animals. Unscrupulous South
African hunters also joined in thelooting, paying hefty kickbacks to
politicians to go into conservationareas and shoot lions, leopards and
cheetahs for trophies. But because ofthe general abundance of certain
species of wildlife in southern Zimbabweand the establishment of the
transfrontier park, which allows animals fromMozambique and South Africa's
world-famous Kruger National Park to movefreely into and out of Zimbabwe's
Gonarezhou (home of the elephants)National Park, there have been high hopes
among conservationists thatZimbabwe's wildlife sector could be restored to
its former glory. This nowappears highly unlikely as Zimbabwe's department
of national parks andwildlife management, the custodian of this embattled
country's wildanimals, has been given the green light to work with rural
districtcouncils to kill animals to feed more than four-million hungry
ruralZimbabweans. National Parks officials said the recent shootings of
10elephants for barbecue meat at festivities to mark Zimbabwe's 25 years
ofindependence around the country had been carried out in the broad
contextof the directive to kill animals to feed the hungry, particularly
thoseliving within the vicinity of national parks. The 10 elephants were
killedby National Park rangers. Four of the giant animals were reportedly
shot infull view of tourists near Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba, a major haven
forwildlife. Zimbabwean conservationists have been particularly scathing
aboutthe killings of the elephants for independence celebrations. Rural
peasantsin Zimbabwe have sold or fed on their own livestock in the past
three yearsof unprecedented hunger, induced by Mugabe's chaotic land
seizures.National Parks officials say many of the peasants living in areas
borderingNational Parks have already been venturing into these parks to hunt
andkill animals using snares. But they said the impact of snare hunting by
thevillagers was limited compared to what would happen if armed National
Parksrangers were allowed to enter conservation areas to kill for meat to
feedmillions of hungry peasants. "Killing of animals for any reasons other
thanconservation can be very disastrous," said one National Parks
official."The politicians think we have enough animals to feed people
without wipingout different species. We as professionals don't think so. We
are talkingto them (the politicians) and we hope we will reach consensus on
protectingour wildlife heritage." Other government officials said Mugabe was
so happyabout his rural constituency which ensured him a majority of seats
in lastmonth's parliamentary elections that he wanted to do everything to
pleasethe
peasants.--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The conservation world lost one of its best advocates on Tuesday when
RonHartley late of Falcon College, Esigodini, Byo passed away at
Franschoek,Western Cape.

Ron was a master at Falcon College, a first
class Falconer who assistedmany in the sport as part of the curriculum and a
renowned conservationist.His expertise and knowledge of the wildlife of
Southern Africa wasenormous.

I have just been into the largest wholesaler in Bulawayo. We are
quitelarge buyers and the staff greeted me cheerfully. Then I collected
atrolley and started to walk through the company premises - I came out in
astate of shock. Whole rows of shelving were absolutely empty - to the
roof.There was no soap powder, no bath soaps, no cooking oil, no fats, no
sugarand no maize meal, no flour and no rice, no milk products of any kind
andno children's foods.

We walked out empty handed and I said to the
floor manager that I wasshocked - he simply nodded his head and said, "what
can we do?" Frankly, Ifind this situation very scary.

We need 36 000
tonnes of basic food imports a week, these will cost aboutUS$20 million. One
of my friends sat in a fuel queue yesterday for 13 hoursto get a tank of
petrol. Most garages have queues outside their premises -even if they have
no fuel. It has never been so bad as now. To top thisserious situation we
have started to experience load shedding by the Statecontrolled electricity
utility.

When we had an economy to speak of, we used about 5,5 million
litres ofpetroleum fuels a day - I would guess that today we use about 3
millionlitres. Even that will cost about US$700 000 a day - or nearly US$5
milliona week - so just for the basics we need US$25 million a week. In fact
weearn about that from our exports each week but that leaves no margin
foranything else.

Yesterday I saw the new Chinese fighter jets fly
over - we have just spentUS$400 million on these plus some Mig 23's, attack
helicopters and militaryvehicles. Most of it from China. We have also just
purchased two Chinesepassenger jets for regional routes to augment the three
remaining aircraftstill flying for Air Zimbabwe.

These ill-advised
purchases have flattened our foreign exchange resources,in fact I hear that
we have sold 25 tonnes of gold forward (US$500 million)and we have also sold
our tobacco production forward. The main problem withthese transactions is
that we no longer can produce 25 tonnes of gold in ayear and we have
produced a very small and inferior tobacco crop.

Last year Gideon Gono
was the local hero when he succeeded in herding alllocal foreign exchange
resources into the coffers of the Reserve Bank butin doing so he has
effectively spelled the death of the export industriesthat fed the system.
His hope of harnessing the US$75 million a month thatcomes back to local
families from Zimbabweans working abroad has floppedtotally - after handling
a mere US$45 million in the past year, receiptsare now virtually
zero.

The election results and the aftermath have not helped - we
remaincompletely isolated, people have no faith in the future, capital
flight isaccelerating and the parallel market has taken off into the
stratosphere.The fact that the Reserve Bank was going to devalue by nearly
100 per centwas leaked last week and there is a sudden frosty silence in
that quarter.The first month of sales on the tobacco floors - always an
important periodin Zimbabwe, has yielded prices in Zimbabwe dollars below
last years. Thissimply puts paid to any hopes of a tobacco led recovery this
year, or next.

The reaction of President Mugabe to these shocking facts
was to hold a"Silver Jubilee" celebration, which costs billions. Undertake a
spendingspree for the air force in a country where we have no external or
internalthreats and a vague promise by a muted Gono that a "recovery plan"
is beingprepared. Oh yes - they fired the poor GM of the Grain Marketing
Board andkept that idiot Made (Minister of Agriculture) in an enlarged
Cabinet.

We have had confirmation from official sources that the maize
crop nowbeing reaped is a disaster - our estimate of about 400 000 tonnes
seemsabout right. There is a flurry of activity going on to try and get a
wheatcrop into the ground before the 15th of May but it is unlikely they
willget more than the 50 000 tonnes or so they grew last year. So we are
nowfaced with a severe famine and no foreign resources with which to buy
thefood and other products we need. In fact, if we had the resources we
couldhardly move this volume given the parlous state of our
infrastructure.

Official UN sources estimate that we have nearly 6
million people who needfood aid - donors are feeding about 1 million people
at present - mainlychildren. This leaves 5 million people at risk of
starvation out of apopulation of 11 million. The rest of us will simply have
to fend forourselves - faced with rising prices, shortages and other
problems. Itseems to me that South Africa will have to step in and pick up
the pieces,as it is very largely responsible for this sorry state of
affairs.

The big question is what do we do about this situation. The one
thing thatsticks out a mile is that Zanu has no solutions and we simply
cannot letthings stand as they are. The MDC has put its own plans into
action and atthis stage they are saying: -

1. The MDC does not accept
the results of the election.

2. The MDC now accepts that neither
democracy nor the legal system hereoffer any way forward at
present.

3. The MDC demands the resignation of the new government and
thenegotiation of an interim administration to begin to resolve the
immediatecrisis situation we are in.

4. The MDC demands the convening
of a constitutional conference involvingall civic groups to draft a new
constitution for the country with freshelections to be held under the new
constitution and under the supervisionof the international
community.

To back up these demands a broad coalition of civic groups is
being formedand will be charged with taking mass action against the new
government. TheMDC will employ all forms of political action required to
support theefforts by civil society to rescue the country from the grip of a
small,self-seeking elite that simply refuses to allow the people to select
thegovernment of their choice. It will call on the armed forces to
supportthis initiative in the broader interests of the country and its
people.

The Ministry of Defence has stated that it will "crush" any mass
actionlaunched by the opposition or civic society. On Monday last week
thousandstook to the streets in Bulawayo after a football match on
Independence Day- it took the Police and the Army 7 hours to stop the
rioting. To localobservers the policemen involved had little heart for the
activity theywere involved in - next time it will be worse.

I am trying to find out the whereabouts or any bit of information on
DianaFern Evadne Gush who was born in Zambia but lived in the Mount Darwin
areain 1967. She may have lived there with her parents and must have
marriedand moved on. Even if someone knew her back then but has lost touch
withher, I would like to get in contact with them.You can contact Michelle
at333601@ecoweb.co.zw or phone
011-404-808. I would be grateful if you couldput this out on your open
letter forum or even classifieds
section.

4.Can
any one help with the present whereabouts of DAWN BRUMMER?, ex Mazoe.Please
let me know (Brian Hayes at brian_hayes@umvoti.co.za
)RegardsBrian Hayes

For some years prior to and until 1999, I was
in contact with a DawnBRUMMER but my last letter of then brought no
response. Perhaps they wereforced out of ZIM as they were farmers at MUTARE
(PO Box 2511) Herletter of Dec 99 gave the email of brummer@pci.co.zw

---------------------------------------------------------------------------All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinionsof the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justicefor
Agriculture.

Lusaka: Two veteran South African journalists have
launched an ambitious campaign to persuade African governments to rid the
continent of "insult and criminal defamation laws" which shield governments
from public scrutiny and stifle the work of the media.

Raymond
Louw, former editor of the Rand Daily Mail, and journalist turned media
consultant Jeanette Minnie, are hopeful that President Thabo Mbeki will help
them in getting African governments to commit themselves to scrapping insult
laws and criminal defamation before they can be accorded a rating of
practising good political governance under the Peer Review Mechanism of the
New Partnership for Africa's Development.

They will shortly make
representations to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa
to get it to insist on the removal of insult laws and criminal defamation by
all countries hoping to get good ratings on political governance and gain
access to greater trade advantages and donor aid.

They have
already written to Mbeki, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other leaders
to seek assistance for the campaign, launched here yesterday in the presence
of top African journalists and representatives of various media bodies
including the World Press Freedom Committee, the Southern Africa Editors'
Forum, the South African National Editors' Forum, the Southern Africa
Journalists' Association, the Media Foundation for West Africa and the
International Freedom of Expression Exchange.

The launch conference
discussed the extent to which African governments use insult laws and
criminal defamation - and lately immigration laws - to restrict public
criticism of their conduct.

The laws have not only targeted
journalists but other citizens who use the media to express their
opinions.

Professor Kenneth Good, of the University of Botswana,
was given a 48-hour deportation order after he co-authored an article
critical of President Festus Mogae. In Zambia, columnist for the Post
newspaper George Clark was arrested and issued with a deportation order
after he wrote a satire equating President Levy Mwanawasa to a baboon. He
was also accused of having insulted the president. In Cameroon,
journalists have been jailed for insulting President Paul Biya.

In Zimbabwe, the use of these laws to arrest and jail journalists has become
routine.

But Louw said South Africa's northern neighbour was not an
immediate target of the campaign because the situation there was very
serious, needing a separate and more comprehensive strategy.

The launch conference heard that about 122 media groups and journalists were
charged under insult laws in 35 African countries over 10
years.

The approach to Mbeki has not as yet yielded any
dividends as the president referred Louw and Minnie to the Department of
Foreign Affairs, which has not given any positive feedback.

No food, no fuel - but a glut of elephants for sale
at £1,000 By Jonathan
Clayton

ZIMBABWE, which is
struggling with chronic shortages in everything from fuel to food, claims
that it has at least one huge surplus - elephants.

The
Government's wildlife and parks department says that there are 60,000 more
elephants than can be sustained in the wild and has invited local farmers to
buy them to populate remote ranches and private game
reserves.

Wildlife experts dispute the Government's
figures and say that the proposed sale is a ploy to create the impression
that the country's game parks, which have been devastated by poaching and
mismanagement over the past five years, are well run. Maurice Mutsambiwa,
director of the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, said that
Zimbabwe now had 100,000 elephants, against a sustainable population of
45,000, and gave a warning that if current trends continued the country
faced a major ecological disaster.

"Ideally we should
have one elephant on 1sq km (0.4sq ml) but we have a situation in places
like Hwange National Park, the Zambezi Valley and Gonarezhou National Park
where we have four elephants per sq km," he said.

Mr
Mutsambiwa said that because of their heavy concentration in certain areas
the elephants were damaging vegetation and driving other species to
extinction.

"Vegetation will be destroyed and water will run
out in the parks," he said. His authority is inviting tenders from farmers
interested in buying elephants.

But the move has angered
conservation experts, who cast doubt on the Government's claims. There has
been no proper count of the elephant population for many years. They said
that there was a real danger that small-scale farmers would buy the
elephants on the cheap and then allow the animal to be poached on their
land.

"If they allow an illegal hunter to kill it, the going
price is about £4,000. Or they could use it for meat. There is no way a
farmer with some 2,000 hectares can support elephants on his land," Johnny
Rodrigues, of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said.

John Worsley-Worfwick, of the Justice for Farmers campaign group, said:
"They (the Government) are trying to give the impression there is a healthy
situation.

"The food situation is so bad here that people
have been killing elephants for meat, and officials have been dealing in
ivory on the side."

He added: "There are no private
individuals who want an elephant in the back yard. It is
nonsense."

The Standard, the Zimbabwean newspaper, has
reported that one national park was instructed to slaughter elephants in
order to feed villagers at Independence Day celebrations last
week.

President Mugabe's Government, which won re-election last
month in a poll that the Opposition and Western governments maintain was
rigged, reacted angrily to suggestions of a food shortage, but has admitted
plans to import 1.2 million tonnes of maize in the next few
months.Elephants have been protected under the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1989, but in 1997 rules were
relaxed to allow Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to cull a limited number and
sell a portion of the resulting ivory stocks under regulated
trade.

"Culling is a very scientific process. They just don't
have the ability to do it properly any more. They just want to try and hide
what is really happening out there," Mr Rodrigues said.

Southern
African nations, where game parks and reserves are traditionally well run
and the animals protected, have long argued for a relaxation in CITES rules
to allow them to trade in ivory stocks built up from large-scale culling.
Many also want to make private hunters pay "trophy" charges for killing the
unwanted animals. Mr Rodrigues said that individuals can pay up to £5,400
each for an elephant "trophy", but that Zimbabwe - one of only a handful of
countries which allows licensed hunting - was now trying to fix the price to
the hunter at more than £12,000.

Meanwhile, he said that it was possible
for a farmer to "buy" a Zimbabwean elephant for just over
£1,000.

"The potential exists for huge profits and abuse, but we will
have to see what happens when the tenders come in. I do not think they are
serious about this. Our herds have been hit by poaching and mismanagement.
They want CITES to give them permission to cull many more, saying they have
tried everything else."

Ivory poaching devastated Africa's elephant
population between 1979 and 1989. In some countries, notably Sudan,
Mozambique and Angola, elephants were almost wiped out. Today, the total
African elephant population is put at between 500,000 and 600,000, but the
herds have recovered much more quickly in southern Africa.

The Commission running the
affairs of city this week resolved to bring change to Harare, the one-time
Sunshine City, which has for years been bedevilled by mounting operational
problems.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has also promised to inject in
funds to revamp the local authority's operations.

Whichever way
rescue comes to this beloved city of ours, the capital and its residents are
crying for help.

Apart from Harare's woes, economists have urged the RBZ
to review the foreign currency auction system as well as adopt much
stringent policies in the face of rising inflationary pressures that are
threatening to derail Zimbabwe's war on inflation.

Economists say the
failure by the auction to service 95 percent of demand calls for an urgent
adjustment of the system and even the country's foreign currency revenue
streams.

Economists have warned that the ability by the auction to
service only 5 percent of demand can only but help propel the black market,
which in turn would militate against the country's inflation
war.

"Given that the majority of companies are failing to get foreign
currency on the auction market, the continued depreciation of the Zimbabwe
dollar on the parallel market has serious inflation consequences as the
companies are servicing their import requirements using expensive foreign
currency," said a Harare economist.

"As a result, for them
(companies) to survive they inevitably have to pass on the burden to the
consumer in the form of higher prices."

Foreign currency has continued to
be in short supply at the auction floors, as the country's foreign currency
supply streams fail to generate sufficient funds.

Presently, Zimbabwe
is relying on two sources of foreign currency - exports and the Homelink
initiative - but the two have failed to generate enough foreign currency to
meet the rising demand.

The other two sources - foreign direct investment
and capital flows - are virtually non-existent for various factors that have
to do with the country's negative image abroad.

Inflows from exports
and non-resident Zimbabweans still heavily need to be complemented by
increased support from the international community, foreign investment,
loans, aid and grants, if this economy is to successfully
recover.

While the introduction of the auction system in January
2004 saw some sanity returning to the trade of foreign currency, economists
now feel the auction has "broken down" due to its failure to meet rising
demand.

Subsequent to this, the Reserve Bank should institute additional
policies, which seek to invigorate foreign currency inflows into the
official banking system, failure of which could result in the reversal of
gains attained so far in improving Zimbabwe's coffers.

"Although the
exchange rate was less volatile in 2004 on the back of the introduction of
the auction system that availed a cheaper source of foreign currency, the
system has, however, broken down as the market is now able to service only 5
percent of demand," said another commentator

The breakdown has been
attributed to: "an exchange rate system that is not being adjusted in line
with inflation developments between Zimbabwe and its trading
partners".

In April alone, the total amount of bids stood at a staggering
US$789 million against a cumulative US$55 million on offer from the central
bank, representing a rejection rate of over 92 percent. In March, bids were
at US$939 million against US$77 million offered by the
RBZ.

Reflecting the acute shortage of foreign currency in the country,
the parallel market rate is reported to have depreciated by 54 percent to
levels of around Z$18 000 to the US dollar from Z$8 300 at the end of
2004.

AGRICULTURAL experts say there is a
growing need to highlight ways and means of coping and adapting to the
drought which has spread its tentacles across the country threatening the
life of both humans and livestock.

Drought is often associated with the
suffering and loss of valued crops, livestock and wildlife. But it is the
state of preparedness by the country that is unsettling many people who are
increasingly getting restless over the availability of water, food and
grazing pasture for animals.

In the 2004-2005 farming season, Zimbabwe,
just like most countries in the region, had poor rains in the later half of
the season which resulted in large scale crop failure, food shortages,
dwindling stocks of water and grain.

Crops in most parts of the
country wilted under extreme heat exposing the majority of the poor who
often have limited stocks of food.

The entire southern African region is
prone to droughts and development experts say records indicate that drought
usually strikes the region twice in every decade.

But the central
question to this natural problem is how Zimbabweans anticipate and respond
to the drought emergencies.

Drought has recurred over the years and a
number of mitigation strategies have been outlined but with limited
practical application owing largely to inadequate funding, capacity and lack
of knowledge.

Prediction covers knowledge of stored water
availability for domestic livestock and irrigation uses.

Early
warning systems by agri-climatologists can alert both the Government and
international relief agencies and help to prepare people for drought.

An
official from the Agricultural Research Extension says in a season with poor
rains, contour farming, off-season tillage, mulching and providing
vegetative barriers on the contours increase soil moisture and prevent soil
erosion.

"Zimbabweans have the ideas, but they lack the capacity to
implement some of these ideas due to lack of equipment and resources," he
said.

"People are now more vulnerable to the ravages of drought owing to
poverty. They have limited means to help them mitigate and cope with the
effects of drought."

Soil and water conservation practices minimise
the disruption of the soil's structure, composition and natural
bio-diversity reducing erosion and soil degradation, surface run-off and
water pollution.

The Arex official says the majority of the farmers in
the country still have limited capacity when it comes to better water and
crop management, augmentation of water supplies with ground water, water
conservation and watershed and local planning.

"Public awareness and
education are critical for improved drought response and adoption of proper
mitigation strategies," says the Arex official.

"All this requires
resources. Without, money to support these public awareness campaigns, the
impact of the drought will be severe on the vulnerable
farmers."

Agricultural experts also say water supply projects can be
implemented for drought mitigation with a view to strengthening drought
preparedness.

They say water use planning, rain water harvesting, run-off
collection using surface and underground structures, improved management of
channels and wells, exploration of additional water sources through drilling
and dam construction can be implemented as part of a drought mitigation
plan.

A number of dams have been constructed in Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980 and the lack of resources to develop irrigation
infrastructure still remains the biggest challenge for the country in terms
of disaster preparedness.

Borehole drilling costs have soared in
recent years and it now costs up to $30 million to drill a borehole of up to
40 metres, installation costs between $20 million and $25 million depending
on the pump size while water pumps now cost anything between $10 million and
$20 million.

The costs are prohibitive for the majority of subsistence
farmers who only have to rely on Government or donor support for borehole
installations.

"Zimbabwe has a huge potential for irrigation development
but lack of resources is the major hurdle that agricultural policy planners
have to grapple with," says an engineer at an institute of agricultural
engineering in the capital.

"Water is there, but lack of irrigation
equipment is a major problem in our efforts to mitigate the effects of
drought."

Herd management is another controversial strategy for drought
mitigation.

Before destocking, farmers need to consider the duration of
drought, current water and feed supplies, the composition and body condition
of the herd and financial resources available.

Farmers can also
reduce stock numbers as well as wean calves to augment a cow's body
reserves.

Around 15 000 cattle starved to death in the drought ravaged
parts in the southern part of the country in 2003 after farmers in the area
had refused to destock in the hope that summer rains would restore grazing
pasture.

"Cattle, are traditionally kept as a symbol of wealth and power
in Zimbabwe. To kill the cattle as a way of mitigating the drought is taboo,
people will resist this," says an Arex official.

"But in periods of
severe drought people have to be sensitised on the importance of
de-stocking."

Maize, in Zimbabwe, is still a crop of choice and despite
repeated calls for people to grow drought resistant crops in dry regions,
farmers still grow maize despite the high crop failure rate in these
regions.

Agricultural experts say planting drought resistant varieties
that mature early can be the winning formula in the mitigation of the
effects of drought on a household.

Sorghum, rapoko and millet are
some of the drought tolerant crops that can help raise food production in
many rural households compared to maize which needs more
rain.

Zimbabwe is experiencing another drought this year and as a result
the Government will import 1,2 million tonnes of maize to help the nation
which is under stress from the ravaging drought.

In 2002, the country
faced another drought and the Government in the first half of that year,
committed US$207,9 million for the importation of 1,1 million tonnes of
grain.

Drought struck Zimbabwe and the entire southern African region is
forcing humanitarian agencies to appeal for aid for more than 14 million
people.

Imports for the country, which consumes between 1,8 million
tonnes and 2,1 million tonnes of maize a year, came mainly from South
Africa, Kenya, China and Argentina.

Agri-climatologists say drought
is a natural hazard which has a slow onset and evolves over months or even
years and may affect a large region.

They say the southern African region
experiences about two severe droughts every 10 years.

Leonard
Unganai, an agri-climatologist said in a report that the main reason why
southern Africa tends to be drought prone had to do much more with the
region's geographical location in relation to the position of the
semi-permanent sub-tropical high pressure belt.

"Regions whose
climate is controlled by the sub-tropical high pressure system, such as
southern Africa tend to be prone to stable and enduring atmospheric
circulation which causes widespread and persistent rainfall deficiencies,"
he said.

While Zimbabweans jostle about food statistics and about the
country running out of maize, drought continues to affect many people who in
most cases only require practical solutions to help them mitigate and cope
with this natural hazard, at least until the next season.

Below is a
list of drought years in Zimbabwe and the entire southern African
region:

Efforts by Zimbabwe's banned Daily News newspaper to
get back on the streets hit another snag on Thursday when the paper was told
to provide more details before it can receive a licence from the state media
commission, an executive for the paper said.

There had
been hopes that the newspaper -- once the most popular in Zimbabwe -- would
be given a licence to publish when top Daily News officials met the
chairperson of the state-appointed Media and Information
Commission.

Daily News chief executive Samuel Nkomo said
he and other company executives held a "long but cordial" meeting with
Tafataona Mahoso, the chairperson of the commission, but were told the paper
had to provide details about its finances and shareholders before a licence
could be issued.

"They need us to supply them with a
market analysis, financial projections and details of the shareholders who
own Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe," the publishers of the Daily News, he
said.

Armed police shut down the newspaper's offices and
seized office equipment in September 2003 after a court ruled that it was
publishing illegally.

The paper had taken a stand against
registration required under strict new press laws. It argued the requirement
was unconstitutional, but the country's Supreme Court upheld the law,
resulting in the paper's forced closure.

Numerous court
attempts to get the paper back onto the streets have failed in the past two
years.

In March, the newspaper made a fresh application for
registration to the media commission, and Thursday's meeting was held to
discuss that application.

Nkomo said on Thursday that he
was optimistic he could obtain all the information needed by the media
commission by early next week.

He said he had high hopes the
popular tabloid would return to the streets.

"I'm an
optimist," he said. "Whatever happens, I think we'll get a
licence."

Zimbabwe's record on freedom of expression has been
under the spotlight in recent years.

Four newspapers have
been closed since the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
was signed by President Robert Mugabe in 2002. Dozens of journalists have
been arrested.

Independent journalists and international
media watchdogs have called on the Zimbabwe government to repeal the law,
which they describe as draconian.

Just weeks ahead of
disputed parliamentary elections held on March 31, three veteran foreign
correspondents fled the country in the wake of harassment and threats from
the government. - Sapa-DPA